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Avant Gardener: Music to My Ears

I’ve been thinking of renaming my blog The Avant Gardner: Reflections from a Vashon Island Garden. When I first thought of the name, I guessed other bloggers were probably already using it and never followed up. I also figured my garden was hardly avant garde, and neither were my gardening techniques.

Last night, before bed, I was listening to Sound Opinions on the radio. The rock critics Jim DeRogatis and Greg Kot do a superb job of covering the music scene, past and present. This week’s show featured what they call “Buried Treasures: great, lesser-known albums from this year that deserve more attention.”

My ears perked up immediately when they played a song from Courtney Barnett’s new album…

I sleep in late Another day Oh what a wonder Oh what a waste. It’s a monday It’s so mundane What exciting things Will happen today? The yard is full of hard rubbish it’s a mess and I guess the neighbours must think we run a meth lab We should ammend that I pull the sheets back It’s 40 degrees And i feel like i’m dying. Life’s getting hard in here So i do some gardening…

What follows that intro is apparently Courtney’s experience with anaphylactic shock in the garden. The Australian singer’s new album, “A Sea of Split Peas,” features the song, named, you guessed it, Avant Gardener.

This got me thinking of Aerosmith’s song, Avant Garden, from their 2001 album “Just Push Play.”

I had a friend who spoke of fate and he
knew of another place in space in time.
He told of how me and my lady could look but we would never find,
said if you please I beg your pardon.
Sometimes the things you see they just ain’t so
your life can be an avant garden,
’cause love’s what makes your garden grow

By then, thanks to my sleep deprived state, my “Zonal Denial” plants were morphing into “Tonal Denial” plants. I decided it was time to fall asleep.